Unpredictable

With Robin van Persie set to leave for one of Juventus, Manchester United or Manchester City in the not-to-distant future Arsene Wenger must be working overdrive to find the solution to cover our best player and most important goalscorer.

Indeed, Le Professeur has openly admitted that he is unsure of how he will accommodate the club’s two newest signings, experienced German striker Lukas Podolski and powerful Frenchman Olivier Giroud, into the team. There has been talk of a return to 4-4-2 with Giroud and Marouane Chamakh rotating as the target man and Podolski, Gervinho et al providing support from a classic support striker role.

Throw in the potential of integrating the superbly-gifted Santi Cazorla into the mix and Arsenal’s attack has a thrilling air of unpredictability around it going into the new season.

Unpredictability has always been and will always be a critical facet of the attacking side of football because it creates chaos for the opponent. In more modern times where statistics are analysed and video footage is scrutinised it has arguably become even more valuable. How can one plan to defend if they don’t know how they will be attacked?

There is a rising feeling that the van Persie affair — which is not something new or uncommon for Arsenal to deal with, even if it is unpleasant — has overshadowed the fact that in the areas that really matter, the core defensive and midfield positions that titles are won and lost in, Arsenal are remarkably settled.

Tomas Vermaelen will step into the captaincy role that he appeared born for, supported by a group of defensive players that know and understand each other well. Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos have both had a year to settle, Laurent Koscielny had a superb season and Wojciech Szczesny has provided a solution to our never-ending goalkeeper problems. The defence might not be perfect but lack of communication or experience will not feature as excuses this season.

While there is an unpredictable feel to our attack — a good thing anyway, in my opinion — it is balanced by a familiar, reassuring defensive unit that should make for more fun and hopefully, a little more success.сондажигеоложки проучвания

About Andrew Weber

Andrew has been entertaining readers of the blog for over five years and has written more than 1,000 articles, not nearly enough of them about his man-crush Freddie Ljungberg.
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21 Responses to “Unpredictable”

I do agree with the unpredictability of our attack if you decide to throw Cazorla in the mix however, I am wont to ask the role Walcott and Chamberlain would play on the wings. Don’t you think we might have some good MD’s going a bit stale on the bench? Maybe Oxlade should go on loan if we keep Walcott.

That being said, our defence has always been something I haven’t been comfortable with, it falls to pieces at the ‘wrong-est’ times. My solution would be that which is happening now, with Bould training the whole team to be defensively alert physically and mentally since we do not have the resources to buy world class DF’s yet.

While I love Van Perise and all he can bring to Arsenal when you have a player that doesn’t want to be here anymore it is time for him to leave. I am also concerned that a Lukas Podolski who has never quite lived up to his hype and an unpredictable Giroud will be the answer arsenal needs. I think with the addition of Cazorla we will have the pace and creativity in the midfield we need to feed those guys. Lets Hope that Maroune Chamake will come back with some vigor after a loan spell. I also saw recently that Wenger was quoted as saying “there might still be a future for Arshavin at the club” as if we needed another mediocre striker to fill the Van Persie void.

Our weakness is still at CB in case of injury to Vermalin or Kos , Meterzaker IMO is too slow ,and plays soft.
We do not have a serious backup as a DM , Song played too many games last year, he was good , but was overused.

Wow exciting times, even a suggestion the RVP may make a u turn. havent worked out the numbers but am guessing our squad is too big now and we seem to have a lot of midfielders. IMO we still need a quality defender, whilst the main defenders are pretty good we still have a soft underbelly

“Throw in the potential of integrating the superbly-gifted Santi Cazorla into the mix and Arsenal’s attack has a thrilling air of unpredictability around it going into the new season.”

With a strong creative midfield available to arsene disposal i don’t think our defence and Song need to move up much and they are well equipped to finish their duties in style with a rock solid Szczesny

Hoping that Rosicky, Cazorla,Wilshere(after christmas) leads the attack ,Diaby,Arteta,Ramsey to hold and direct the play, Song ,Coquelin ,Frimpong(after christmas) to keep intact with defense.

This season is going to be Arteta season.If this guy stays fit ,we are guaranteed of a title this year. He took time to settle last season and showed glimpses of what he can do . This season i could see him as the star player for us. His ability to guide the play ,balance our attack and defense is well known.But what he truly possess in the attacking side , which he haven’t showed so far with arsenal will be the true unpredictability.

Be really good to get inside the workings of the club. You certainly get the impression the financial purse strings have finally been loosened. Can’t wait for the season to start. Agree with most of the comments – our attack looks to have lots of options. Voley Gun, you didn’t even mention the ox and Gervinho who I reckon will both have big parts to play. I really hope RvP stays but am much less concerned about him leaving if thats the way it pans out. I agree that our defence is still the major worry, but we surely can’t have four fullbacks out injured at the same time as we did last year.

I have to be honest and say I dont know a lot about Sahin and you never get the full picture from clips, but from what I have seen this boy knows how to pass a ball. Hope the loan agreement has a right to buy clause. With all the cazorla press this one is not getting high profile attention, but I believe he was the player of the year in Germany before he was benched in Madrid. He is only 23 and could be a tremendous assets. Still think we need some steel at the back and another keeper.

Really looking forward to the new season.

Hope to see all the old bloggers returning we had some interesting debates last season. Loosely speaking 2 camps the glass half full and the glass half empty. Not suggesting either is right or wrong but would like to get views from some of the unhappy bloggers from last season.

@Terry – I agree with you on Ox and Gervinho. But with two new signings and professor crowded with too many forward options, I doubt these two will get less play time this season or mostly represent as impact subs.

As andy pointed out a 4-4-2 formation may be on cards.But with too many options upfront for arsene’s disposal he may well go for the 4-3-3 to give more playing time for his players.

The reason behind this is he may use Giroud/Chamakh in central role
Podolski/Gervinho in LW and Walcott(if he stays)/Ox/Ryo(if not loaned out) in RW.Gervinho inclusion to the team depends on Walcott stay. If walcott stays i guess wenger will pick Giroud ,Podolski and Walcott as the first choice.

A 4-4-2 would be very interesting .If walcott stays ,his demand for central role can be satisified with this formation.

Podolski/Giroud/Chamakh can play as the target man . Walcott/Ox can play behind as second striker.In addition Gervinho/Ryo can accomodate in midfield in addition to midfield trio(Diaby/Arteta/Song)

Andrew, good to have the blog back. I hope Leftcoast and Shambo , Kel and others are back on soon to resume the debate. I am starting to get excited about the new season. Am enjoying the Olympics but its no substitute for the real thing!

Just wondering if you or any other Gooners down under can share any experience with online streaming of the Arsenal games. We have cut our Foxtel subscription to save some money and am planning to pick up the EPL on demand through Fox sports as it is way cheaper. I was wondering if anyone had tried it out last year.

Sorry, a bit off topic I know so am already in breach onf the new blog rules!

Andy I’d just say that while I completely agree that we now have a fairly unpredictable mix on the attack side we need one more LB/RB who can play a central role comfortably as well. Last season we played Djorou for quite a bit and the stats arent anything close to being pretty. We need a strong and quick LB.

The way I see it, imho, we’ve got two great defenders in Vermaelen and Koscielny and even Sagna is solid (mostly) at the back. But Per is very slow, as is Santos and I dont really think Djorou has shown the promise that Wenger has seen in him. We’ve lost too many times because of mistakes at the back. Dont you think we could do with strengthening our defense as well? I know this isnt happening in this transfer window for sure; but what do you think?

I really see a return to a 4-4-2 at least some of the time to our benefit. I like our signings but I don’t feel podolski played particularly good at the euros and doens’t seem the same value as he did when we were first linked with him. I’m not sold that he can play on the wing in the EPL I think he may be better off up front which IMHO lends us to more of a two up top formation. I really have high hopes for Giroud and think he’ll turn out well.

I hope Theo stays with him Jack and Ox I think we have a nice english core that is a big part of the future of the club and the english national team. That would be a nice change for the gunners.

I think volley gun is right that arteta is inline for a big time year. Gervinho must raise his game and comitment. Last year was rather disapointing for me. He needs to show he belongs and bleeds arsenal.

Competition for places will do good for our Attacking third! Unpredictability is definitely in order! We relied too much on RVP last year.

I don’t see 4-4-2 making a comeback though. We would’ve seen it during preseason if it was even thought about.

My main man for the season is Alex Song. If he could go back to playing like he did 2 years ago when he focused on protecting the back four, instead of foraging forward every chance he gets, we could go very far in all competitions!

I ‘ve been reluctant to blog until i see the real action begin with Cologne. Why are people panicking with the central defenders we have? 4 are more than enough. Jorou is always good as a CB .He did it against Barcelona. Both the right back and left back are better equipped. Santo seems to attract worries but regardless of what he has the best statistics on interceptions on a one to one. He qualifies his lack of speed with goals. How many times did u see Clichy score? Am jst worried about the defensive midfied role in case Song got injured. Arteta is injury prone and neither can Diaby step up. We risk failing to sell B52 and Chamakh.Its time to shift Walcott from thewings to play centrally now. If V. persie stays we shall be strong favourites for the Title and Manchester United will diplomatically settle for a place below us.I only hope he doesnt go to our immediate rival. Better late him finish off his contract.

With the leave of RVP and Song, we need to replace Song indeed. He is a very good utility player. I think we need to get Frimpong and M’Vila to replace him.
We also need a BIG defender, no need to be a big name. Striking force, we can still wait a while and see.
Finally, I think RVP did not really think how Arsenal bared with his injury for the first 7 seasons, he should stay and play at least one more fantastic season. like Henry and Cesc who did brilliant.

we will miss the great arsenal legend…..van persie.i liked him so much that even after losing matches i never lose hope from arsenal…..but now also there are many awsime players in our team…so best of luck for next match…….go gunners go…..we are the revolution

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[…] our unpredictablity in attack this season could prove to be our strongest weapon. To quote from my previous article: Le Professeur has openly admitted that he is unsure of how he will accommodate experienced German […]

[…] our unpredictablity in attack this season could prove to be our strongest weapon. To quote from my previous article: Le Professeur has openly admitted that he is unsure of how he will accommodate experienced German […]